Software applications touch the lives of millions of people everyday. They are used for numerous critical business and personal tasks and functions. The ubiquity of software coupled with its increasing complexity has made it imperative that the users of software are able to quickly learn and use their software. Increasingly, this imperative is met through the use of online and computer-based training and instruction.
One of the shortcomings of traditional online and computer-based instruction material intended to train users in the operation of software is that it offers a generally passive learning experience and does not engage the user with sufficient interactivity to stimulate higher levels of learning. High-end instruction software may include graphics, video, animation and voice to create a professional and appealing presentation, but the content often lacks both required user interaction and relevance to actual job performance.
The training content is usually delivered in a browser or other external application, and the user is required to switch back and forth between the training window and the live application (the application on which the user is being trained), which can become tedious, confusing, time consuming, and ineffective for the user.
More advanced forms of such training material make use of “simulation” techniques in which a software application is simulated in a training environment in order to allow the user to perform tasks as if the user were actually using the product. Though this technique overcomes many of the shortcomings of less interactive instruction material, it is very costly to produce and maintain. Once the initial simulation is constructed according to one particular interface, it must be updated every time the software application's interface is modified (either by the user or the software producer), or every time a new version of the software is released. Also, the simulation is normally limited to the most basic functions and processes since the cost of recreating every function and capability of the software application in the simulated environment would be exorbitant. As a result, investment in new versions of software is less likely, leaving companies with less skilled employees, and could possibly result in a decrease in the discovery and experimentation of cutting edge technology.
In addition, the user is unable to explore the full capabilities of the software product due to the limitations of the simulation. Developers of simulated instruction products are likewise hindered in overcoming this limitation due to the cost and difficulty of producing and maintaining a simulation that offers such a breadth of function and capability.
A need, therefore, exists to provide software instruction that combines the power of multimedia communication with the effectiveness of interactive learning in a way that is efficient and cost-effective to produce and maintain.